The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 16

“Cut the crap, Rafe,” dad snaps, and my eyes go immediately wide because dad only uses that tone when he’s really mad. “What the hell are you doing at the Academy when you told us two nights ago that you were taking your sister somewhere safe?!”

Jesse visibly gulps while Rafe struggles to keep his composure under what is probably dad’s most menacing glare. While the three of us obviously know that he loves us, he’s still probably the scariest man on the planet. Only mom is completely immune to him.

“Rafe, you look so cute!” My face bursts into a smile when I hear mom’s voice coming through the video call. “Show me Jesse! Oh my god, your little uniforms!”

“Ella –“ Dad says on a sigh, reminding her that they called for a reason.

“Oh right. Yes! Boys, where is your sister!?”

“It’s fine, mom,” Rafe says, and I know that he feels more secure now, talking to her. Rafe and mom have always had a special bond, just like me and dad. “I promise you – we’ve got everything under control, Ariel’s doing great –“

“How is that possible,” dad grumbles, cutting him off, “when you are at a military Academy and she is – Rafe! Where the hell is she?!”

I wrap my arms around my legs and stare up at my brother, wondering if he’s going to break under the pressure of dad’s glare. Deep down I desperately hope he doesn’t – I’m not done here, not nearly.

“We’ve got it all under control, Uncle Dom,” Jesse says, reaching out and turning the tablet so that my parents can see him. “We promise – we’d never let her be in any danger, and it’s actually safer if we’re the only ones who know!”

“You have to trust us, dad,” Rafe snaps, turning the tablet back to him, starting to glare back at our parents now. “You know that we would both rather die than let anything bad happen to Ariel. So, either you call us all back right now, or you trust the three of us together.”

The other line is silent for a moment and I go tense with hope.

“We trust you, Rafe,” mom says, her voice thick with emotion. “If you promise that she’s safe and that you’re taking care of her? I believe you.”

Rafe and Jesse shift their eyes, clearly looking at dad now. His answer takes longer.

“She’s my little girl, Rafe,” dad says, his voice cracking on the words in a way that makes my entire stomach tie in knots. “I know she’s growing up – you all are – but god damn it, if you let anything happen to her –“

“I won’t,” Rafe says, giving a single nod and looking steadily into the camera. Jesse nods too, sealing his promise as well.

“All right,” dad growls, clearly unhappy with how this went but determined to trust his kids.

“Good luck, babies!” mom calls. “Don’t let them beat you up too much! And don’t –“

But then I hear dad sigh, and mom laughs, and a little smile pulls at my lips because I can almost see him shaking his head at her. Rafe and Jesse smile now too, saying their final goodbyes before Rafe turns the tablet off, tossing it on the bed before looking around to see if any of the other candidates have been listening in or figured anything out. When he decides they haven’t, he slips his hands in his pockets and turns his glare on me.

“You’d better not make a liar out of me, Ari,” he growls, shaking his head.

“What did I do!?” I gasp, sitting up straight and glaring right back. “I’m just going along with the plan!”

“What I mean,” Rafe growls, stepping towards me now and glowering over me – an act that just makes me roll my eyes because he’s been doing that to me since we were six – “that you’d better not do anything stupid that makes dad tear me to pieces because you got hurt, or killed, or pregnant.” He delivers the last word in a vicious whisper-hiss.

“Oh my god, Rafe,” I snap, jumping to my feet from Jesse’s bunk and glaring back at him. “I’m not doing anything but trying to get into the academy just like you –“

“I wasn’t the one staring at the other candidates like they were prime cuts of meat –“

“Ew!” I shout, slapping my hands onto his chest and shoving him, hard. “Rafe, you’re being ridiculous –“

Behind my brother, Jesse just raises an eyebrow at me, his face unusually grave. Because now…well, he’s probably figured out what, precisely, I was looking at.

God, can he have already guessed who?

I burst into a vivid blush for what feels like the hundredth time tonight, and before either of them can say anything else I grab my toothbrush kit from the edge of my bed and start to storm off to the bathroom, needing a moment alone.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going!?” Rafe shouts, storming after me.